Grace
by Atheia
Summary: Bobby and Ellen have a daughter, an arse kicking hunting chick with issues and more than her fair share of demons. This is her story set from series four onwards. Find out how she deals with Dean's return and the appearance of angels.
1. Chapter 1

**News**

The large clock on the wall ticks eleven as the rain hits the window. Grace Singer should have been home hours ago but she has a stack of cases on her large pine desk that all need to be neatly tied up in a pretty bow. She became a cop because she thought it would be a good cover for being a hunter she never knew that she would actually enjoy it. However, she has a little boy at home who needs his mother so she finishes the file in front of her. Her radio turns itself on and there is nothing but static making the hair at the back of her neck stand on end. She has learnt that the sound of white noise usually means troubles coming. The light bulb in the lamp starts to flicker and then there's this sound so high that it breaks the glass of the window on the door of her office. Her ears hurt with the power of that sound.

What the hell?

She grabs her trusty gun, not her regular pistol but her hunting gun with the salt bullets and the cult symbols. She might love being Sheriff of this small little backwater but she's a hunter first. She is after all Bobby Singer's little girl.

Dean Winchester is saved.

A voice is in her head and it tells that Dean is safe. She so wants it to be true, that Dean could be free from the pit and it unnerves her because what has that sort of power? Nothing good and that's for sure.

The radio turns off and the air is still with tension. It's over. She picks up the broom and tidies up, she'll blame it on some drunk smashing it and as the CCTV camera in the corridor by her office conveniently never works they will have to believe her.

She leaves her office and all that paperwork right where it is and goes home. Dean might be alive. Those four words echo in her mind forcing everything else into the background and her body on autopilot. She picks up her phone and calls her Dad.

"Grace?" His voice asks.

"Yeah it's me, Dad this is going to sound mega crazed but is Dean there?" She asks leaving room for laughter.

Only Bobby doesn't laugh he does the worst thing possible, he goes quiet and there's them Goosebumps again.

"Dad?" She calls needing him not to freak out on her.

"No need to shout scout," he answers. He sounds drunk but then he's grieving the loss of a son. "Dean is dead baby; Lilith collected her debt like the repo-men who took the TV."

Grace stares at the receiver like there's dangerous blue sparks dancing off it. Her Dad's analogy leaves her cold, he's right of course but Dean's soul was more important than some idiot box. "They took the TV?" She asks trying to push the image of Dean being ripped apart from her mind. She needs the trivial right now. She could even handle that file on the shoplifting teenager over that image.

"I missed a few payments, still got the radio," he answers pushing it under the carpet. "Scout you know that Dean isn't coming back, don't you?"

"Then why did we burry him?" She asks. It's a fair question as hunters usually are burnt on pyres like Vikings as too much bad stuff can happen to an empty corpse like procession or ghouls.

"Because of Sammy," Bobby sighs. Grace can pretty much hear him frown. "Why do you think he's back anyhow? What was it a dream, or something?" He asks, it's another fair question but one she has no clue how to answer.

"Uh, something like that," she sighs. "Must have dosed off at work again, you know too much paperwork not enough coffee that kind of thing." She hates lying to her father not even when she's playing cards and so she babbles.

"Scout what's wrong?" He asks, "Gracie?"

"Nothing, I just miss him is all." She massages her right temple like she does when she's stressed, it's her only tell. "Sorry to worry you Dad, but I'm fine and so is Sean."

"Good, keep it that way,"

She smiles, "Yes sir." She hangs up the phone and gets out of the patrol car. She's home now with her pink tinted yellow roses and the tyre swing in the front yard, she built a proper home for her and her boy. She was brought up in a scrap yard and Sean's father lost his home when he lost his mother.

Sean is sat at the dining table with his homework and his favourite babysitter Quinn. He looks up at her with carbon copied green eyes and smiles; there is nothing physical off her in him he's all Dean. "Mom," he beams and her heart swells with pride and that tidal wave of unconditional love.

"Hey champ," she smiles roughing up his brown hair. "How's senior year going Quinn?" She asks smiling at the pretty red head in her cheerleading uniform.

"Fine Sheriff," she smiles back.

"Are we still okay for Thursday?"

"Yeah sure," she smiles. Grace never had much time for cheerleaders they usually spent too much time with Dean for her liking. Stupid freaking Dean, why does everything have to come back to him?

She sees the cheerleader home across the street and closes the door on the big bad world. She lays down some fresh salt and tries to forget the weirdness at the cop shop.


	2. Chapter 2

**Visitation:**

The light bulb starts to flicker inside its frosted glass shade. Grace looks up from the basin to the blinking light with concern but she's too tired to bother looking into it as the wiring is far from great in this place. The list of things to do in this place is endless but the mortgage is almost all paid and it might be a bit of a fixer-upper but its home. She curls up under her covers wishing that she wasn't alone, a little harmless distraction would be just what the Doctor ordered but no she can't even give it away anymore.

She looks at the paperback thriller on her glass bedside table next to the black lamp and just can't be bothered tonight. She sets the alarm for the morning and turns on the radio, she hates the quiet. It's strange that she has a regular routine after the life she had has when she was younger but she made her choice and has to stick to it. It sucks but those are the breaks, and the little boy, coming up to his thirteenth birthday in the next room, is worth every crappy second of her lame existence.

The radio starts to crackle and now all the bulbs in the house are dancing a merry jig. She grabs her gun and jumps out of bed when the white door bursts open and in walks a man. The man is wearing a suit and a beige trench coat and he hardly looks like a threat but there's some serious charms around the house that say otherwise.

"Do not be afraid," he says in a deep husky voice that makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end.

"Who's afraid? I'm the one with the gun," she smiles wearing her best poker face.

"You will not need it," he says.

"You break into my home and into my room, I think I'll keep it," she argues.

"It will not help,"

"Don't know I feel kind of better already," she says shooting him.

He takes the bullet without even flinching. "I told you that it wouldn't help." He says.

"Okay," she nods trying to figure out what can take a bullet like that. She has a big old library of knowledge in her head and nothing fits. "So if you're not a demon or ghost, what the heck are you?"

"My name is Castiel, I am an angel of the Lord," he answers.

"Huh?" She asks, "What...like seriously?" She tries to suppress a giggle at the thought of an actual angel standing in her bedroom.

"Yes," he answers.

"So what do you want?" She asks putting the gun down on the bed.

"Your help,"

The look of suspicion on her face is still there, "You're an angel and you sneak into my bedroom to ask for my help?" She asks feeling confused, "Well that's new."

"Lilith is going to open sixty-six seals to release Lucifer and bring about the apocalypse," he explains wondering if all humans are going to be so hard to convince.

The name Lilith takes her attention, "And you need my help, because?" She isn't the best or only hunter in the world; surely this is more up the Winchesters' street. "I heard you say that Dean was saved, didn't I?"

"Yes, some people can hear us, I did not know that you were one of them," he says looking at her like he's sizing her up for something. "They did not tell me."

"If it helps, I didn't know either," she smiles. There is something about this angel that makes her want to smile it's like he's a child or something. The word she's looking for is innocent. "But then I didn't know angels even existed until right now so I'm hardly an expert." She adds trying to avoid the quiet that seems to feel the room.

He nods. He was sent here for a reason and it wasn't to make small talk with a half-naked woman. "Will you help us Grace?" He asks.

"I'll try," she answers. She has never turned away from a job before even if she wanted to, "Promise that my son will be fine and I'm your girl." She has her conditions and Sean's safety is top priority.

"No harm will come to your son," he vows. "That is why we are here."

"I don't follow," she is confused and rightfully so.

"Your son is important to our mission; we want you to keep him safe." Castiel explains.

She smiles, "That I can do," she takes his hand and shakes it.


	3. Chapter 3

Home Sweet Home

Grace wipes her eyes trying to find the strength to get out of her ancient Jeep. She hasn't been home since Dean paid his dues, God that was a fun night. Sean is asleep in the passenger seat her chunky lumberjack jacket over him like a blanket, and she doesn't want to wake him. Shouldn't she be racing out to see her Dad like when she was a kid and he was out on a hunt with Rufus? She does love her father and it used to piss her off when the kids at her high school used to tease her about him. She wanted to tell them the truth that Bobby Singer was and still is her hero. So why can't she face him?

"Mom," Sean yawns looking at her with his Dad's eyes. "Are we there yet?" He asks like a million kids have done before.

"Yep kiddo we are, and you know how I feel about clichés," she smiles rummaging a hand through his messy brown hair. "C'mon Gramps will be waiting." She finally opens the door and feels the gravel crunch under her heeled Doc Martin boots. The Impala is there already and despite herself she smiles, she's spent many a happy moment on that back seat and she nearly sure that it's the spot where...

"Mom!" Sean calls her again only this time the sweet sleepiness has been replaced by the whine of annoyance.

"Okay already," she sighs looking at the door in front of her. She hates this friggin' door as she's never sure what to do as she doesn't live here so to use her key would be rude but then her Dad would get irked if she knocked. She 'ipp-dips' the options in her head like a child and ends up with the key in the lock that's always a little stiff.

She enters the building and a whirlwind of memories catches her breath. She never knew any different and compared to the boys her childhood was as close to normal as a hunter could get. Okay so there was that thing when she was eleven that left her with a massive scar and a glass left eye but otherwise this is where she grew up.

Sean has ran off deeper inside wanting to find something exciting, his granddad always has the coolest things like bones and stuff his mom wont like him being in the same room as. Gramps is totally awesome and never tries to protect Sean from stuff. He goes into the parlour to find the Winchester brothers; didn't mom say Dean was dead?

"Hey kid you're mom here?" Bobby asks as Sean gives him the biggest hug.

"Yeah she is," she smiles at the scene. She stands in the doorway feeling more than a little sheepish trying to keep her composure.

Bobby looks at her, "Dressed up special, huh?" He asks referring to her skin tight jeans and the low cut top.

"You know most people say hello," she smiles the expression on her face pure Ellen. She enters the room and has a look around, "You collecting bottles for the recycling guys again?"

"Now who's being rude," Bobby smiles. "Thanks for coming scout."

She shrugs as if driving through the night is no big deal. "The least I could do considering the circumstances," she smiles nonchalantly. She lets herself look at Dean and she smiles, "Hey," she gulps dumbly.

He smiles back at her, "Hey sweetheart, so Sammy tells me you've been nagging him since...

"Someone's got to keep an eye on gigantore,"

"Hey guys I'm right here," Sam glares at the both of them. One at a time is bad enough but both at together is just awful.

"Now look he's gotten all huffy," she smirks as she rests her hand on Sam's broad shoulder speaking in a baby voice. "That's so adorable."

Sam pulls a face but inside he's happy to see her. He could never be anything other than happy to see Grace, she's like his big sister and admittedly he always had a crush on her but still she's Grace. He knows that she's only teasing him so she doesn't have to talk to Dean, because with everything that's happened it could get awkward.

"It's what you would have wanted," Grace admits switching into serious mode. "That's all I'm saying 'kay, so if you're looking for a chick flick moment take it elsewhere." She says drawing a line under the moment. There's obviously a lot she still wants to say but she won't just like she'll never say who Sean's father is. Everyone knows of course its clear just by seeing them in the same room but no one goes there, not even Bobby.

Dean nods thankful for her not making a big scene but a little disappointed whenever he pictured his funeral he saw her in widow weaves throwing herself on the coffin. "It's good to see you too Grace," he smiles getting on his feet, "Come here," he pulls into a bear hug that is too tight to be called tender. She still wears the same perfume. They look at each other in the eye and for a minute it's like they're going to make out but they pull apart like someone has snapped the elastic.

"So uh, do we know how?" She asks because Castiel told her not to tell them. He was a little vague on why but there you have it.

"No, but there is this," Dean shows her the handprint scorched into his shoulder.

"Eugh!" Grace gasps, Castiel did that? She will have to remember not to piss of the little dude.

"That's cool!" Sean whoops.

Dean looks at it and shrugs, "Kid has a point it is kind of cool."

"So what do we do next?" Sean asks his voice squeaky with excitement.

"Well it's bed for you little man," Grace answers, "Come on honey before you nod off down here."

"You mean the adults need to talk, right?" He pouts whinging because no one takes him seriously. "Gramps will tell me any way."

"Not tonight he won't," Grace says with a tone of authority in her voice that is part mom and part Sheriff either way it means that he shouldn't argue.

"Night guys," Sean sulks.

"Night kid," they parrot back as Grace leads him to her old room complete with all the things she left behind like the old photos.

"Go on you must be tired baby," she smiles passing him his PJs. "I'll be up again to tuck you in."

"But Mom it isn't fair!" He calls after her.

"Nope, but then no one said it had to be Chico," she answers walking back downstairs. "So what do we do next?" She asks her Dad.

Bobby looks at her at all he can see is his little girl with a worried look on her face, he wants to tell her it will all be okay but he knows that it probably won't be knowing their luck. "Go see a physic?" He says stabbing in the dark hoping to hit something, "That could work right?"

She looks at him, "You're asking me?" She frowns, "I don't know, uh maybe,"

"Thanks scout that was a big help." He smiles passing her a bottle, "Know anyone?"

"Pam," she shrugs, "Pamela's good and she owes you a favour. Doesn't everyone? You're like Oprah for hunters," she teases but she couldn't be prouder.

"I just play my part,"

"Meaning what?" She asks, "You mean I don't right?"

He frowns, "I didn't say that, now got be getting irked over something I haven't even said." He says trying to quickly plaster over the cracks in their relationship.

"It's cool Dad," she sighs, but it isn't and it hasn't been for a while. "So do you want me to call her?"

"No it's alright I'll do it," he nods dismissing her.

Grace heads into the dark dingy kitchen, how can her Dad live like this? She feels tempted to do the washing up that's piled pretty high in the sink, but she nips the urge in the bud before she does it. Her Dad wouldn't want her cleaning up after his mess. She opens the fridge to find it full mostly of beer, but there's some jars of things she doesn't want to look at. She grabs a crate of beer and goes to find the boys.

Dean's quiet and she can see the concern pouring off him. She wants to tell him everything but apparently that's not the plan. She'll just have to settle for giving him a cold beer instead.

"Hey your fingers are missing a few nicks," she points out wondering if he's noticed too. "You're like straight out of the factory." She adds because she has to say something to fill the awkward silence, and she can't just say 'hey Dean how was hell?'

He just shrugs and she's wondering if she should just let him be.

"Okay then, uh enjoy your beer man. I'm sure you could do with it," she smiles and she hopes that the concern in her voice doesn't sound patronising. She finds it hard to keep the mom out of her voice sometimes. She turns to leave trying to think where she can go where she won't feel in the way.

"Grace," Dean calls holding her arm so that she has to stop. She looks at him waiting for him to say whatever it is that keeps her there. "Thanks."

"It's a beer," she shrugs. "Not even mine."

"I wasn't talking about the beer sweetheart," he smiles that sweet little boy smile that is still as hard to resist as it was back in the days that were. Sean's got that smile, Grace finds herself thinking and that raises more questions in her head such as when she realised that she just didn't love him like that anymore. It probably happened when John made her choose.

"It's nothing man," she smiles accepting that for Dean this is a heart to heart conversation. "You're family," she kisses his cheek. "It's good to have you home big brother."

"Yeah," he smiles but he sounds distant. She doesn't get the feeling that the place he's in is a good one. "Home sweet home," he adds.

They leave in force to Pamela Leighton's house. Grace shouldn't be there but Pamela and she go back a long time, and Grace doesn't have a lot of girlfriends. Girls as rule don't like her.

Pamela welcomes them like old friends and flirts with both boys. Grace merely shakes her head feigning surprise but she's not. She would have gotten all jealous once, all Dean had to do was look at a waitress and Grace would be edging for a fight but not now. Dean's a free agent and if she let her head turn every time he noticed someone else it would have unscrewed like a light bulb.

"Grace, are you okay honey?" Pamela asks her, "You're sending off some weird vibes." She says in way of an explanation.

"I'm good," Grace lies choosing to pay attention to her friend's decor instead. It's one of the perks of her job getting to pry into everyone's lives. People don't realise how much their houses say about them and Pam's is no different.

They set up the room for a séance by drawing the curtains and clearing the table. Pamela instructs them in what to do and they all hold hands.

"And I got to hold something he touched," Pamela says her voice all business as she gropes Dean.

"Hey he didn't touch me there!" Dean growls defensively.

"My mistake," Pam teases and Dean reveals that painful looking handprint. Pam puts her hand on top of it and starts procedures. There's a wave of paranormal shit that means she's making progress. "Castiel," she says.

Grace nearly lets go of Sam's hand but that would break the circle and nothing breaks the circle. Pamela is arguing with the presence and she's tenacious fighting back peeling the veils back further than she should, needing a peek at what's beyond. Grace wants to scream a warning but Pam needs to concentrate, so many things can go wrong. Oh God what's happening?

Pamela screams as a fire burns her eyes right out of their sockets. Grace should have followed her instincts and now her friend is hurt, it's not a mistake she'll make again in a hurry.


	4. Chapter 4

To Err is Human

Grace leaves the hospital wanting to scream. She could have helped. She should have helped; she knew it was dangerous Pamela going places only... She wants to throw up for even starting that ole saying in her head because only angels should tread.

"She'll live kid," Bobby smiles kindly. "She still has more senses than most, just makes me wonder what can do that. Nothing I've crossed before and that's for sure,"

"God knows," Grace shrugs before the truth of her words hit her. She doesn't want to lie, not to her Dad. He deserves better. "What's next on the list of things to do, then?"

"Dean's got a plan," Bobby answers.

"Good luck with that," she smiles but then she doesn't really mean it. Dean is a good hunter or at least he was, but the plan will be stupid like crazy stupid but then it will work. It always works. He's like an annoying maverick. "Let me know how it gets on, won't ya?"

"You're going back?"

"I've got a pile of paperwork and besides Sean's got to go school," she answers. She has her own life to return to. She hugs her Dad, "You know where we will be if you need us." She adds collecting her boy and climbing back into her car.

"Call me to let me know you're home safe kitten," he sighs as she drives off.

The drive home will take a few hours so they decide to stop for a bite to eat on the road. Sean points out a diner her likes the look of because it has a Cadillac on the roof. Grace pulls over shrugging as it looks as good as anywhere else.

The diner is decorated with images of pure Americana from the eagles to the old posters advertising Coca Cola and Pepsi as well as Hersey chocolate. Sean thinks it looks cool but Grace thinks it looks tacky and the fact that the doors to the restroom have full size stencils of Elvis and Marilyn annoys her. It screams tourist.

They find a table in the corner nearest the door. Grace likes to always know where the exits are it's a habit she just can't quit like smoking, no matter how many times she tells herself that's she's given up she is always itching for that next nicotine hit.

"What can I get you guys?" The nerdy waiter asks scratching his spotty nose with his pencil.

"Two shakes and two quarter pounders with cheese and extra pickles in one," Grace orders for both of them. "And we'll probably need the dessert menu."

"Okay coming right up," he smiles leaving.

"Mom, are you okay?" Sean asks.

"Five by five," she smiles playing with his hair. "It's just stuff kid, nothing for you to worry about." She adds drawing a line under the conversation.

"Do you know what brought Dean back?"

"Sean, drop it and eat your lunch," she snaps as the food arrives. She knows that one day they will need to have that conversation but hopefully she has a few years left before he hates her.

The rest of the drive home is done in silence. Grace looses herself in the asphalt and the familiar driving music, a mix of mullet rock and nineties dance music that she got into on holiday in Ibiza. There's something cathartic about the act of driving. She's never been one for whole road trip thing, and the summers sent in the back of the Impala with Dean and Sam squabbling and John with his obsessions and rules was enough to put anyone off.

She turns off the main road and passes the happy sign welcoming them home. She knows the small town isn't perfect but she didn't want perfect she just wanted somewhere else. She drives down Main Street with the parade of shops, the cinema and the police station all in walking distance of each other. Everyone knows everyone and there aren't many secrets in a place like this but Grace loves it. It took a while to get readjusted but its home.

Her house is on the corner of Lancaster and Main, the nice end of town only twelve blocks away from the bad end. She can't help but smile as her little blue wooden house appears before her with the pretty garden and patio furniture on the porch. She wakes Sean, who can't seem to go far without falling asleep. He's always been like that even as a baby, if she was at the end of her tether she would strap him into the car seat and within ten minutes he would be her little angel again.

It feels good to be able to shut the door on the outside world. She lets Sean go off and do his own thing before checking all the security measures like the devil traps and iron bars. Nothing's getting in without her say so. She checks the answer machine and there is the usual message from her mom just checking in and moaning that Grace never seems to be in, and a drunken message from an ex wanting to hook-up. Grace deletes them both.

She checks in with her Dad kicking off her shoes that seemed like a good idea at the time, no wonder no one else seems to hunt in heels. "Really, an angel? Huh?" She asks trying to sound as surprised as she can muster. The couch looks nice and comfy but she's off to bed.

A few days later she's enjoying the favourite part of her day. She has a big bar of Hersey's Cookies and Cream, a cold European beer straight out of the fridge and a House box set. She knows it makes her selfish but everyone wants her to be someone or something from being a Sheriff to being a hunter or even a mom. Grace needs at least an hour to just be herself with a face mask and fluffy slippers. Ah the good life.

Then as she's getting comfy the TV goes all statically. How is she meant to drool over Hugh Laurie if she can't even see him?

"Castiel?" She asks the static. Please let it be Cas. The temperature drops and then she sees him.

It isn't Castiel. It's Chris Walsh, he's still wearing the cream suit he wore on their wedding day, and the yellow rose still in his buttonhole. "You let me die bitch!" He snipes reaching out for her.

"I'm sorry Chris, I tried to save you," she wants it to be true. She did try but no way was he coming back from that bullet wound once the demon slithered out of his meat suit. She grabs her iron fire poker and swings at him. He vanishes but he will be back. They always come back.

Her only thought is that Sean's upstairs. She runs out into the hall and flies open the hidden cupboard under the stairs where she keeps her arsenal. She grabs the bag and tries to load it up when a force throws her to the ground.

"You never loved me you lying whore," Chris growls. He's pinning her down and she reaches for the sawn-off shot gun. She shoots him again and runs upstairs. He grabs at her ankles. No ghost should be this strong. She keeps going not looking back or listening to whatever he has to say. She did love him and all that time he was processed. None of that matters now.

She opens the door to Sean's room. She closes it behind her and pours out some rock salt. It should buy her some time. She takes the cell out of her dressing gown and rings her Dad, apparently something is hunting the hunters the Winchesters are looking into it and she should go to his place. He has a new panic room.

The door bangs open and she picks up Sean and jumps out of the window. Luckily the ground is soft. They get inside the Jeep and head out of town.

She turns onto the quiet road and Chris is standing in the middle of the road, since when could ghosts leave the place they're haunting? She hasn't got time to worry about that now the only thing she has to concern herself with is getting Sean somewhere safe. He's terrified and she tries to calm him but she's scared too. They have never done the drive in such little time. She didn't even know the Jeep could go that fast.

The Impala is already in the yard. She almost wants to say hello to her old friend. "Come on baby," she smiles kindly at Sean who stopped screaming about twenty miles ago. He still looks pale and she wishes she could make him forget but there's no little pill for that. She grabs her bag from the boot and they head inside. She isn't worried about the correct etiquette this time she just goes inside.

Bobby throws his arms around them, "It's good to see you scout," he smiles. He looks a little edgy and she bets that he's had a visit all of his own. "How are you doing Sean?" He asks his grandson who clings onto him. "C'mon let's get going, shall we?"

"Sounds good Dad," Grace smiles following him.

"Did you think that I would forgive you?" Chris demands as he hits her. "You're nothing but a lying whore, that demon was after you not me!"

Grace strikes him with her fire poker. "Oh shut up," she leads Sean into the panic room where Sam and Dean are debating the existence of God. "I think I preferred it out there." She moans.

Bobby being his wonderful self follows the only clue they have, a branded symbol and finds the solution a spell.

"Any chance you got everything you need in this room?" Dean asks.

"What our luck was going to start now..." the old man snorts. "The spell needs to be done over an open fire."

"The fireplace in the library," Sam suggests and they all set off on a mission.

"Grace stay here with Sean," Bobby smiles, "We've got this."

Grace nods curling up with her son, "Is there any point in me asking you to be careful?" She asks.

"Not really kid," he smiles kissing her cheek. "Don't leave this room,"

"I heard you the first time," she sighs. She's still a hunter but she's a mom first so she has nothing left to do now. She holds her son as she hears the gunfire and the shouting. Her friends, her blood is up there and there's not a thing she can do to stop it.


	5. Chapter 5

Tooth and Claw

_AN: Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter. _

Grace sighs as she sweeps that annoying strand of hair out of her eyes. It has been quiet since the witnesses had risen and to be honest she's bored. Oh she knows that soon she'll be so deep in trouble that she'll be begging for a little quiet but this is unbearable.

She almost jumps with joy when the town's Quincy calls her to the morgue. She likes Richard, he's a good man and he doesn't ask questions. He smiles at her pushing his horn-brimmed glasses up his telltale red nose.

"You'll like this one Sheriff, it's weird," he pulls open the drawer and unzips the body bag.

"You've got my attention," she smiles. The presence of a dead body hasn't bothered her for a while and it's one of the things Richard likes about her. "Who's the kid?"

Richard hands her the file, "Thomas Jackson, he was a student at the college, attacked in the car park on campus." Great the local rag will just eat that up. Jackson was Captain of the football team, a frat boy and someone the papers would consider to have promise.

"When you say attacked?"

"I mean he had his heart ripped out,"

Grace could tell that by the gaping hole in his chest. "Wild dogs?" She wants it to sound like a guess but last night was a big night in the lunar cycle.

"Wild dogs in Willow Creek, like I said it's weird," he answers. "But what else could it be?"

She shrugs, "I'll look into it but if the press ask toe the company line, yeah?"

He smiles, "It's the Henderson's all over again, isn't it?" The Henderson family was a weird one, not often a whole family turn out to be a vampire nest not in a small pinprick of nowhere.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that claim," she smiles. "See you later Richard,"

"Bye Sheriff," he smiles waving her good bye. She's sure that he mutters something about the full moon under his breath. It would be nice to have another hunter around to bounce ideas off but she works better alone.

She heads to the campus that is close enough to the woods for people to buy the whole wild animal routine. She never played the student scene but she knew enough frat boys for it to be familiar. The CSI lot are crawling around in their all in one white boiler suits looking like an advert for safe sex. Grace hoped that they would be finished by now but obviously not.

The leader of the condom people is a total tool who makes her skin crawl is heading straight for her like a greasy cruise missile. "Sheriff, how nice for you to join us," he smiles.

"What have we got Harper?" She asks, "Richard says it was an animal attack; isn't that a bit strange this far in town?"

"You see it all over the news bears and wolves going into populated areas looking for food," he shrugs and she wonders how people can be so stupid. It must be nice to be a job, to think that the worse that can happen is a poor beast with a serious case of the munchies. "Nothing else to report, you've had a wasted journey Sheriff."

She turns to look up at the CCTV camera, "Maybe, I'll just check with big brother," she's head of to the security office. She hasn't got much time before this goes public and people will get scared, parents will demand retribution and she'll need to make a call to the Forrest Rangers to arrange a hunt.

The security office is a hut by the fence, it doesn't look a lot but then small town college campus isn't used to much more than drugs and the occasional fight. As town Sheriff she should probably be appalled by petty crime.

The man at the wall of screens is on his laptop watching porn. It's probably that busty Asian beauties site that Dean is like addicted to.

She lets out a sigh and knocks loudly, "Sheriff Singer," she informs him flashing my badge. She really loves the embarrassed look on his face as he slams the lid of his Dell shut. "I'm here about the attack last night, any chance I could view the footage from outside the bar, I could get a warrant. Or, I could pretend that you weren't giving the screens your full attention." she really have no shame, "Does that sound good Dan?" She asks reading his name tag.

"Sure," he goes to the locker where he keeps the old tapes, "I changed them this morning, here you go."

"Thank you Dan," She smiles.

Grace returns to her office and play the disc, these things hold hours of footage that she skips to the time Richard recons the attack happens.

"What are you doing?" A deep voice from behind her asks making her spin around on her snazzy swivel chair. There before her is the angel Castiel with a weird look on his pretty face. When did she start to think he was pretty?

"Working a case," she answers. "Is there something I can do for you?" she is so beginning to understand that he doesn't make social calls. "Is it Lilith?" She wants to be the one to take that skank out but that should be Sammy's job, he's so obsessed that he's like his father not that she'd tell Dean that.

"No," he answers. "It is not Lilith," he tilts his head to the side like a dog listening to his master's commands.

"Well that's good right?" She asks, "Cas?"

He looks at her, "I should not have come you are busy," he sounds weirder than usual.

"I'm never that busy," she smiles minimising the window on the computer, "Do you need to talk?" She wants to help him. "We could grab a beer, or don't you drink..." of course he's gone. "Or not," she sighs. She goes back to her work.

There is no wolf only a guy, kind of dorky with wacky teeth and glowing eyes. Sometimes she hates her instincts. She opens the second drawer and takes out the false bottom to take out an old fashioned six shooter. She tries the barrel, five silver bullets left that should be more than enough if she can find him first. She is always a little apprehensive when it comes to hunting werewolves because the rest of the month they're people, nice normal folk.

She takes a still off the footage; he looks right at the camera. She runs it against the two resources at hand, the criminal database and the college register. There's a name that fits the bill Johnny Tyler, he was mugged last month and the report reads that he was bitten. Poor kid, she sighs. He was innocent, a pledge who wanted to join Jackson's fraternity.

He's in Simpson, a nice red brick dormitory for the Freshers. She will have to tread carefully make it out that she an officer of the law hasn't broken in and shot a kid with a silver bullet. She can't just disappear like most hunters, she doesn't have the luxury. She messes with the CCTV so big brother can't see her and knocks on his door. It will take a boil wash to take the blood stains out of her clothes.


	6. Chapter 6

Trick or Treat

Grace is out shopping for the Halloween bash that Sean has decided he wants for his birthday. Halloween has never been that big a deal before for the youngest Singer they used to stock up on candy and watch that old Peanuts special, but no this year Sean wants a proper ghost house theme and that leaves Grace in the supermarket looking at the commercial crap that fills the aisle. Oh sure when she was a kid her and Dean would watch some proper grisly monster flick that she would play scared of so he would wrap his arm around her, like a guy in a costume could even spook a hunter but the smell of his leather was worth it. Jo would say that if some schmuck is dumb enough to treat you blonde then play at it.

A vampire complete with fangs moves as she walks past, it's dumb but it makes her laugh. Her last email from Sammy told her about this shifter who had this whole monster feature obsession. It was actually kind of funny, this grown freak pretending to be Dracula. She grabs the statue puppet thing; it'll be cool in the hall by the door. Sean wants his party and Grace like any mom has to provide, God he's going to be thirteen, a teenager now that is scary.

She takes her PDA out of her the purse that's resting on the baby seat; it feels like only yesterday that she used to put Sean in there. He used to kick up such a fuss as soon as they got anywhere near a store, he still hates shopping unless there's a game or comic store in the vicinity. She scrawled a list on her e somewhere with that friggin stylus that males her crazy. Hey have to do something on her lunch break, right? So on the list is the decorations for the house, costumes, food, the pumpkins and enough candy to sink a small ship. She's the Sheriff and kids seem to prove themselves by egging her house more than anyone else on the entire street. Why does her life have to suck?

Hey that guy just stuck a whole plastic cauldron in his rucksack. Oh he's so screwed. Grace taps him on the shoulder, "I hope you're planning on paying for that, because I'm not in the mood for paper work." She smiles flashing him her badge, he nods shakily. She gets security to shadow him and continues her errand.

The bare face cheek of some people, like no one was going to notice a cauldron sticking out of some dude's rucksack.

It's amazing how the shopping only looks a lot on the conveyor, in the trolley it's like there's hardly anything but all laid out. Wow that's a lot of crap, cotton wool spider webs, paper chain bats and way too much candy. She nearly falls over when she reads the total, but she can afford it and it is his thirteenth birthday.

She pays the guy who helps her load her car and drives home. She wants to get everything put away so Sean can't find it. It's going to be a surprise, is he too old for surprises? Nah of course not or at least that's what she hopes anyway.

The phone calls and it's her Deputy, there's been a disturbance at the old Greggor place. "I'm on my way," she pulls on her shoes and leaves. Every year there's a line of kids that break into the old rectory, it's meant to be haunted but every small town has its legends. She takes her EMF reader and her salt round loaded gun just in case. She hasn't found anything yet, just kids being kids but who knows when it comes to ghosts especially with the approaching apocalypse whipping everything into a supernatural frenzy.

The old Greggor place looks haunted, all broken windows and overgrown. Her Deputy is already at the scene talking to the teens, her regular babysitter Quinn is amongst them. She takes out her notebook and her trusty biro. They follow the usual line of equerry, and the kids say that they saw a ghost. Newman, her Deputy laughs it off and sends them on their way with a warning.

Grace has no choice but to follow their claim. She waits for the coast to be cleared before she returns. She has everything that she needs for a good old fashioned ghost hunt, she should probably take Sean along for his first proper hunt but he's not thirteen yet. He has started to watch that really annoying Ghost Facers show.

She cuts open the chain on the gate with bolt cutters and from the yard full of towering weeds she can see something in the window upstairs. It looks like a man in a shirt and he seems to vanish, but that isn't what she calls proof. Grace picks the lock and starts exploring the building with her EMF in her hand.

The building is still obviously a rectory, high ceilings, large boarded arch windows and the pipes of an organ. The pipes like everything else aren't complete as though someone has been stealing them, maybe as souvenirs. The walls are cracked and covered in spray paint. Just like every other derelict building she has ever investigated. Her EMF stays dormant but she's not going to give up.

There's a curious knocking sound coming from the balcony that leads her up the spiral stairs. The EMF lights up like a Christmas tree as something grabs her arm. She's pushed against the wall by a man in a shirt with a dog collar. That would be the late Father Greggor no doubt.

"You should not be here!" He growls.

"Yeah, I know," she fills him with lead. "Defiantly haunted," she sighs clocking her sawn-off shotgun. She has to go and find the guy's remains. She always gets the best jobs. Sigh. Research is totally benign but a necessary evil. There was a big fire and a couple of wars between then and now but she manages to pull up a newspaper report saying that the Father was buried in the plot outside the rectory, under all those weeds. Isn't that just peachy?

She returns with her shovel and starts digging. She must be in the right place because the ghost appears and throws her against the fence. She drops her gun mid flight and he's on her quicker than she can pull out her iron blade. His hand is on her heart and it feels like he's going to rip it out of her chest.

A lone figure shoots a salt round straight through the ghost. She tries to see who it is and for a minute she could swear that Dean is here. Only the boy isn't Dean it's Sean. She didn't even know he could fire a gun.

"Hi mom," he smiles that goofy Winchester grin.

"Hey baby," she chokes getting to her feet. She looks at him in his X-Men t-shirt and his jeans. He has never looked so grown up, or like his father. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help," he answers nervously.

"Okay, we'll talk about this later right now we have to finish this." She smiles hugging him. She hands him the shovel, "You want to help? Well get digging," she takes her riffle back and keeps watch. They uncover the body and together they pour lighter fluid over the long dead Father and light up the candle.


	7. Chapter 7

Who the hell is Anna?

Grace doesn't like the idea of the Winchesters letting themselves into her Dad's home. She knows that they're family and they need the panic room but hello Bobby's in Bali. Grace shudders at the thought of her Dad on the beach as he really isn't the beach bum type. She arrives at the same time as her friend Pamela, they hug and she tries her hardest not to treat her any different because the whole blind thing. The Winchesters however manage to make her feel like an invalid. Sam starts it all with his sweetest voice and it's like he's helping an old girl cross the street.

"I still have more senses than most," Pamela explains. "Like I know that, that's a demon and this poor girl must be Anna."

Anna is a quite pretty with red hair and clothes that look like a hunter's wardrobe. Dean has noticed that she's hot but Grace is used to that she's just surprised that he isn't in full flirt mode. Has he finally figured that there's a time and a place. This is so not it.

Ruby, Sam's very own demon is there and that leaves a bad taste in Grace's mouth. What the hell does he think that he's doing letting a demon in her Dad's home? This place is meant to be safe and okay she can't go into the panic room but hearing her laugh about it being discrimination for Bobby to want to protect himself makes Grace voice her opinion.

Sam valiant as ever defends his demon whore. Grace figured that he had better taste than that considering that Jessica was such a sweetheart. Oh yeah Grace had met Jessica and the girl baked them cookies and was kind to Sean. Dean doesn't know that they went to visit Sam at Stanford.

"Grace I need to concentrate!" Pamela snaps. Grace shuts up. Pamela puts Anna under a trance, simple hypnotism. Grace is impressed, and she tried hypnotism to stop smoking. Anna reacts badly when Pamela asks her to talk about her father. Dean as valiant as his brother tries to intervene and gets hurt for his trouble.

Anna seems different when she sits up like she's more in control or something. "Thank you Pamela I remember now,"

Anna was an angel. She fell from grace and that's why the angels and the demons want her. As Grace understands it the 'grace' is like an angel's mojo and without it they become human and Anna's fell like a meteorite. Sam finds it in a field near where she was born and the place where it landed a giant tree sprouted.

The Winchesters take the angel and the demon with them. Grace can't help but smile because an angel and a demon on a backseat sounds like a Penthouse Forum letter. She is sure that Dean's thinking the same. She follows behind in her rented black Mercedes Benz. They are too late and soon as Anna says the words Grace nods glumly, of course they are.

Grace has no say in what happens next but as plans go it's pretty frigging great. Grace keeps her mouth shut and her head down it's her time to follow orders again and it's a role she fills well. Only the angels are talking again, they want Anna and they know she can hear them. She raises her hands to her head like it would help.

Anna touches her shoulder, "You can hear them, can't you?" She asks in that voice that for some reason Grace finds comforting.

The boys don't know that little hidden talent of hers. They do now. They look at her for an explanation but she doesn't know how it works either. "I can just hear them, okay?" She shrugs, "Cas says some people can just hear the angels, I just happen to be one of them."

They have until morning and Grace gets that third wheel vibe. Is there such a thing as a fifth wheel? Sam is all over that demon skank and Dean, well Dean has gone over all religious. Grace is a little green-eyed about that but life was never that fair, now was it?

She puts on some music on the stereo and pulls the leather jacket over her as she curls up on the back seat. It seems so long ago that she was the one on the back seat of the Impala; she bets Dean's learnt some new moves since then.

Out of some miracle sleep comes and she finds herself in a familiar setting. She's at the clearing of the woods on the edge of town where she goes to clear her head. She has taken Sean out there camping when he was going through his Boy Scout stage. Right now it's the beginning of spring and the woods are just starting to wake up after the winter. The blossom is stunning and the wild flowers are like a carpet. She's not wearing shoes so she can feel the earth under her feet and can hear it snap with life. There's a picnic blanket and she lays there watching the clouds float by; there should be some Hollywood hunk about somewhere she thinks and she smiles. As her dreams go this is a good one, maybe a little tame but good in an old fashioned wholesome way.

There's even her favourite picnic food and Sean's lemonade. He always makes good lemonade and used to have a cute little stand.

"Hello Grace," Castiel says looming over her in his trench coat.

She sits up, he's not the Hollywood hunk she was expecting usually its Daniel Craig or a young Mel Gibson. "Castiel, what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk," he answers.

"Go on then, after you," she is trying to be professional.

"Anna ripped out her grace," he says like it's the worst thing ever. "She knew what she was doing and she knew the penalty better than anyone the penalty of her actions." He crouches next to me and I've never noticed how beautiful his eyes are before. Only they aren't his eyes, not really. "If her grace had fallen into the wrong hands, it would have been catastrophic."

"I'm not selling out my friends, surely you know that?" She knows that is exactly what Dean is going to do but it's her job to play hard to get. "So you do what you need to Feathers, and obey your orders like a good little soldier."

He almost looks hurt, "Grace I am not what you think I am,"

"Words are cheap and I don't trust you," she snaps. She's never been all that good at amateur dramatics and she hopes that she isn't laying it on too thick. "So get out of my head!" She's meant to be all angry and fed up. Betrayed, was how Sam put it.

The angels show up and next to Castiel is an angel Grace hasn't met before. He looks at her like she's something he's stepped on, "You must be Miss Singer, we haven't had the pleasure but you have left quite the impression on my brother." It sounds like harmless small talk but there's something to his tone that strikes Grace as anything but friendly.

"Is that right?" she asks her arms crossed.

He smiles and he looks like he's got something to say but is interrupted as the demons arrive just on cue. It's like how Sammy put it when Godzilla and Manta get their freak on its best just to duck out of the way. Anna is amazing, she swallows her grace and there's this light that makes me think of nuclear warfare. So why can't she think about what the angel said?


	8. Chapter 8

Blood of the Brotherhood

The storm goes by and no one batters an eyelid only not everyone knows an omen when they see one. Grace on the other hand knows what to look for and something weird is going on the next town over. She ties the loose ends together on a domestic disturbance and goes snooping. The statues are bleeding at the local monkey house so she starts there. She packs for everything and wonders why she never gets any of the cool toys first John got the Cult and then the boys got that handy blade of Ruby's. Life is so unfair.

The monastery looks pretty quiet no obvious signs out of the ordinary, nobody would look twice but she's not buying what they are selling. All the signs brought her here. She should have tried to get help but no one answered so she is all alone, again.

The first thing that hits her is the smell of sulphur and blood, it's almost enough to make her gag. There are bodies everywhere and she can guess that there is about sixty all piled up and in the middle of the chapel the demons are in a circle working some kind of mojo. There are seven of them and only one of her so straight on combat is pretty useless so she is going to have to get creative. She can see a sprinkler from her view point; she is hiding behind a frigging angel.

She had the foresight to check the blue prints so she knows where all the pipes lead. She blessed the system earlier and a lighter later she has a nifty little weapon, demon acid rain. There is an old saying about great plans of mice and men, which means that one of the demons is immune to it. She's heard that some strong demons can just shrug it off and this one is laughing.

"Neat little trick but I know you're here now and I will rip your insides outside," he snarls.

She has been threatened before and doesn't let it get to her. Her best shot is to sneakily kill one at a time, so she dunks one into the communal font only to be flung around like a rag doll.

"You thought that you could stop us?" The lead bastard asks, "All by yourself, not your best plan was it girlie?"

"I've had worse, and man do you like the sound of your own voice," she has to keep coming back swinging it's the hunter way. She starts to say the Latin words of the exorcism that has been drilled in her head like a nursery rhyme but there are too many of them. "Screw this Castiel angel of Thursdays I could do with some help," she prays.

It's a long shot and as she is slammed into the stain glass window she doesn't think it will work out. Only Cas appears and before she can say feathers he smites the demons. It's hot. Grace falls to the cold hard floor and watches him. He really is something to watch. Oh god she's hot for an angel.

He offers her his hand crouching down before her, "Are you okay?" He asks doing that cute head tilt thing he does. Oh yeah she likes him. There is a spark as she takes his hand.

"I am now," she smiles as he helps her up. "Thanks Cas." She should never have taken his hand because he's tangible now. There is a whimpering sound coming from the confession booth, "Hear that?" He nods and I grab my gun from where it was knocked on the floor by the demon horde.

We peel back the curtain to find a young priest praying as he rocks back and forth. I look at him, "Is he clean?" I ask because as an angel he can see them.

"He is human," he says.

"Those men that killed my brothers, they were not-

"Don't question what you have padre, those men were just men and they are gone let us get you out of here," she smiles the mom evident in her voice. "I am Grace this is Castiel," she keeps the smile on her face as she introduces her and her angel.

"Like the angel?" He asks.

"I am the angel," Cas answers. Sometimes he is just too honest.

"He has a strange sense of humour," she laughs nervously, "Come on let's get you to the hospital."

She tries to sanctify the monastery making a funeral pyre in the yard and watching it burn. She was reckless today and that sort of behaviour can leave her one of the cadavers on the fire. She can't do that to Bobby and she defiantly can't leave Sean.

She races back to him and he looks at her like she's cuckoo, but then he thinks it was just a normal day at the office nothing to report. She orders pizza and they can polish of the homemade lemon cheesecake in the fridge. She picks up the empty boxes of a great night and takes them out to the trash. Castiel is on her porch.

She smiles at him, "Hey how's the monk?"

"In shock but he is unharmed," he answers, "The demons wanted the blood of the brotherhood, it is one of the seals."

"Well good thing I distracted them by getting wailed on then," she jokes arching her aching back. Is he staring at her breasts?

He looks at her with those beautiful blue eyes that are too old for his vessel, "There are thousands of seals and we have lost too many all ready."

Of course this is business, why would it be anything more he was never going to join her for cheesecake or anything. "I know Castiel, but a victory is just that no matter how small," she adds putting her hand on his arm. She wants to ask him inside but the words don't come, maybe it's for the best he isn't just some hunter she can jump on after a hunt. He's not human. "I bet it's bedlam up there," she says reminding herself that he is one of god's soldiers.

"We are trying to prevent Armageddon," he says.

"So I've heard," she sighs and with that he's gone.


End file.
